Chapter 60

chapter 60

ELLE

If Donna hadn't been with me, I couldn't have done it. As it was, when we got to the final piece to get the battery free, she did it with gritted teeth.

"Okay, this is it. And—just so you know—now we're fucked."

"What do you mean?" I said, holding the edge of the cold slab of electronics and metal as we waddled it back to the dock room.

"The other one was the spare. This is the actual battery. There's nothing to replace this. All of ALRI will run out of juice in about an hour."

"Oh," I said, and winced, hoping I could keep that piece of information from Ceph.

I could not. "You drop this off, I watch you get into the lifeboat, and then I will take it to the spaceship to drop the battery off," he thought at me with a growl.

"Understood," I told him—but then Donna and I heard the sound of feet coming up the metal hall.

"Oh, fuck me," Donna said, her eyes wide at seeing their owner first .

I looked over my shoulder, to find Snout trundling for us, then thought out to Ceph. "Why is he here?"

"So you admit it's a he?" Ceph thought back, before adding sharp concern. "I told him to stay behind! He did not listen!"

"How did he get past you?" I said—and realized Ceph was too pained to answer. "I'll keep him safe."

That didn't stop him from hurting. "There was chaos. I blame myself."

"Don't, Ceph. It's okay—we'll toss him out to you with the battery."

Donna bit her lip and then looked at me. "Can we pet him?"

I didn't think it was a good idea, remembering what touching the alien had done to me and Cepharius, but we needed to pick him up to get out of the way and go faster. I heaved the battery away from her. "Just grab him. We're almost there—but don't freak out if he changes."

She boosted him up off the ground, making cooing sounds—but Snout stayed an alien for her. "Come on, buster," she said, trotting forward faster than I could with the battery.

And Snout was the only thing that saved her—because Hargrave and the last five of his men rounded the corner, and I could see all of them focusing in on him.

"Run!" I shouted, turning around at breakneck speed.